[Irvine] [Japanese] Takaraya (CLOSED)

Takaraya
5408 Walnut Ave #1
Irvine, CA 92604
(949) 654-1221
(CLOSED)

We go to the 99 Ranch Plaza on Walnut all the time.  Passed by Takaraya plenty of time, but never had the desire to go inside.  From the look of the restaurant, we thought it was your typical teriyaki bowl kind of Japanese fast food restaurant.  Maybe the owner isn't even Japanese.  One night as we were leaving Tapioca Express next door, I saw an old Asian guy wearing apron and chef hat sweeping the floor inside Takaraya, and a young girl was leaving.  As the girl opened the door, I heard the girl saying goodbye to the guy in Japanese, and the old man said, "arigato xxxxxxx" and bowed.  I assumed the man is the owner/cook, and the girl is the waitress.  The man probably said something like "thank you for the help today."  But what surprised me was the bow.  Seemed like the owner really appreciate his employee.  Also he didn't make the waitress do the clean-up like most restaurants do, but he was doing it himself.  So I was wrong.  The place IS owned by Japanese.  And with a nice owner like that, now I really want to try this restaurant.



We came early, around 5ish.  The restaurant was empty.  But by 6:00pm, the restaurant was completely full, with most of the customers being Japanese.  We placed order at the counter, and picked up our food when it was ready.  No tip needed at this restaurant.  They also have a lot of Japanese manga and magazine for customers to read.



Premium Ramen ($7.75) + Spicy ($0.75)

Dr. P ordered Spicy Premium Ramen.  2 pieces of cha-shu pork, corn, bamboo shoots, seaweed, and seasoned egg.  The broth was good.  I like their ramen noodle a lot because it was al dante and very "QQ".  We like the seasoned egg a lot.  This was a pretty good bowl of ramen.  The only thing I didn't like was the pork.  It wasn't as soft as I would like it to be.


Mini Spicy Tuna Bowl ($1.95)

With any noodle, customers can get a mini bowl for $1.95.  Dr. P picked Spicy Tuna Bowl.  The spicy tuna tasted just like the one inside spicy tuna roll.  It was tasty.


Ginger Pork + Teriyaki Salmon Combo ($7.50)
Served with white rice and fresh green salad

I tried a two item combo, and chose ginger pork and teriyaki salmon.  The combo came with miso soup, rice, and salad.  The salad had a sesame dressing.  It tasted like the gome sauce at shabu shabu restaurant.  I like it a lot.  Salmon was big and good.  Ginger pork... well, I didn't like it too much.  It didn't taste like ginger pork at all.  It wasn't the right cut of pork.  I think they used the same cut as cha-shu pork, which resulted in big thick pieces of hard to chew and overcooked pork.  There was no ginger taste at all.  The sauteed onion was way too salty.  I didn't like the ginger pork at all.  Don't think I'll order this again.


Beef Bowl ($5.80)

We also ordered an extra Beef Bowl for Dr. P's breakfast before surfing the next day.  I had a bite.  The beef bowl tasted like Yoshinoya's beef bowl, but better and with fresh ingredient.

I like Takaraya.  They have good ramen and rice bowl, just don't order the ginger pork.  Big portion, reasonable price.  I am glad we are finding more and more great cheap eats in Irvine!

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